July 2011 Book Remarks

July 2011 Book Remarks

The Victorian age brought advancements in many areas, including pharmaceuticals. Jane Eastoe shares the history of popular medicine and drugstores in Victorian Pharmacy: Rediscovering Forgotten Remedies and Recipes (Trafalgar Square Publishing). The guide is full of facts, treatments and recipes for traditional remedies your ancestors may have used.

In Kiyo’s Story: A Japanese-American Family’s Quest for the American Dream (Soho Press), Kiyo Sato tells of her father’s 1911 immigration to California and her family’s successful fruit farm there. But with the outbreak of World War II, the family was sent to one Japanese internment camp after another. This captivating memoir shares an unsettling piece of American history.

On the other side of the American Revolution were the generally unrecognized Americans who stayed loyal to King George of England. Thomas B. Allen’s well-researched Tories: Fight for the King in America’s First Civil War (HarperCollins) gives voice to the Loyalists and reveals little-known facts, such as New York City’s and Philadelphia’s status as Tory strongholds throughout the war.

Amanda Adams documents seven women — including mystery writer Agatha Christie — who sought adventure in the male-dominated field of archeology in Ladies of the Field: Early Women Archaeologists and Their Search for Adventure (Greystone Books). Learn how their work helped reshape how we study the past.